Strength
by giraffefafa
Summary: An observation of each character's definition of strength. Takes place after Enishi has committed Jinchuu.
1. Megumi

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, that honour belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki

Megumi

_There are patients waiting_

I want time to stop; I just can't go on right now. I want the time to mourn, to cry. Kaoru is dead, and Kenshin is missing. I want to panic and grieve.

_There are patients waiting_

The battles doctors face are different, they will always be needed at every moment. Illness is not a challenger at the door, demanding a duel, it slips in and the doctor must find the source and make it disappear. A doctor cannot stop time or wish that it could stop.

_There are patients waiting_

I don't have the luxury the others do to mourn; I cannot go out and search. I must stay here and take care of my patients. A man once told me of the benefits of saving lives and to not dwell on the dead. I now honour his words even though he is gone. That is why I stay here.

_There are patients waiting_

I cannot cry. Yes, Kaoru is dead and Kenshin is missing, nothing would change that. But what would she think of me if I give up now, after all the advice I have given her? Who would I be if I am willing to stop just because he is gone?

_There are patients waiting_

That is why I stay here and continue taking care of my patients. I know now, and understand it. If I do not work, another person may die, just because I wasn't there to help. Just because I allowed myself to wallow in despair. I could not allow that to happen. That is not me! I must express my grief through my work, I must try to save more people and prevent more deaths. That is how I must handle my grief.

_There are patients waiting_

End.

I'm working on a timeline from this point until before they leave for the island. I actually found this very difficult to do since Megumi is quite a mysterious character to me. She was the one who had to clean up and examine Kaoru before the funeral and that must have taken a lot of strength and I found it hard to convey. Hopefully, I managed to show it here.

Thank you for reading.


	2. Sanosuke

Sanosuke

Words never attracted me. It never held the same weight a fist would hold.

I looked up to two guys who use more words then I thought normal, or necessary. Both of them thought they could change the world with their words. They believed their words would truly reach their audience.

Of course, it isn't true. If it is, wouldn't the villagers and farmers be heard? Wouldn't there be no more wars if people could just talk it out?

I mean, the Sekihoutai still had to go to war, no matter what the Captain said. Katsu and I still learnt about weapons and bombs, how to use them and how to kill with them. Using words should mean equipment like that would be unnecessary. Kenshin still had to fight every single person who came up to him. He still had to use his sword to make the person see reason. They still wouldn't listen to his words. How does that show the use of words?

I knew from the beginning, of course, that words would never win. Haven't I seen it with the captain? What happened when he approached his death with mere words? The moment Kenshin started talking; I could tell what will happen to him.

I'm right, aren't I? Look at what those words have done to him. He's now stuck and lost in that godforsaken village more dead than alive. His words couldn't save Kaoru. He couldn't make Enishi see reason. I would've gone after that bastard if I knew it would do any good. But Kenshin would probably just sit there, dead.

Like I said before, words are fancy, but words mean nothing unless the person listening understands what those words mean. That is why I still believe in my strength and my fist. No matter what, I will get my answer so long I use my fist.

End.

Sano was fun to write. I wanted to make him more brash and rough but….I ended up mostly with this. This one I am more confident with than Megumi, since Sano was always so alive and loud in the entire manga. But I noticed that I get more out of Sano when he keeps quiet because that is when I start paying attention, and it showed me a depth to him, not just some loud-mouthed, trigger happy, grudge holding man. And this came out.

Thank you for reading.


	3. Kaoru

Kaoru

I don't know where I am. I don't know how I got here and I don't know how I'm going to escape.

I also don't know where my clothes are.

He doesn't tell me anything but to wait here for Kenshin to come for me. How am I supposed to just wait here? Kenshin's hurt, all of them are hurt. It doesn't make sense for them to attempt to rescue me now. It would be ridiculous.

He wants to kill me, I can tell. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm Tomoe's age when she passed away, I would probably have been dead that night.

But I don't want to be here, I want to be rescued. I want to just sit down and cry, scream, run. I really want to be rescued. It doesn't seem like that is going to happen though.

The only option for me is to wait. Kenshin will come for me, I'm sure of that; I just have to have faith in him. With that, I can probably show Enishi that the man he hates is very different from the man he is now. I mean, if I could show that trust and faith in him, Enishi would realise that there is more to Kenshin than the killer he saw. Hopefully, Enishi could see Kenshin's regrets and what Tomoe had done for him and not what Kenshin did to her.

Enishi seems to be obsessed with his sister's smile, perhaps that is the key, the smile. Maybe with that, he will understand. I can understand the need of a smile. Kenshin smiles all the time, too much sometimes. He has many types of smiles, the annoying detached smiles and the genuine ones. Yes, I understand the power behind smiles. That's why I always smile now too, it makes me feel better, like there is hope still. Like my smile could inspire people to never give up.

I cannot smile now, even if I wanted to. All I could do is wait. When he finally comes (_I hope he doesn't push himself, but I hope he comes soon_) I will smile for him. I will show him how I never lost faith in him and that I knew he will come for me. Until then, I will wait.

End.

Kaoru is so hard to write! She was all over the place after being kidnapped, which is an acceptable response but trying to show that is difficult.

Thank you for reading.


	4. Enishi

Enishi

It is said that people would find their answer to enlightenment in different ways. For me, this is the only way forward; there is no other way for me to move on. With this, I can find the peace I have lost all those years ago. If this is a trade-off, I think it is fairly justified - my peace for his. I have suffered all these years and so did my sister. He shouldn't be given the chance for happiness. He should learn the suffering I had gone through.

He would know a little of what I have gone through now, since I took the girl. I should have had her killed but sister wouldn't like that. She doesn't like it when the innocent are hurt. Kaoru, be glad that I listen to my sister.

All of them tried to stop me. He tried to reason with me. It's useless. Words are just words. How can I tell his sincerity, he could just say, "I'm sorry," and be done with it. How can that encompass the entirety of what I had to go through? How can a simple apology justify the death of my sister?

That is why we must fight, and I must beat him. That is the only way he could be punished and I can find peace. He should feel everything that I felt since that day. He must endure the hell I have gone through. Where words fail, our swords can answer. I will find my answer with my blade as he falls. I have trained hard, harder than he ever will.

I will win.

My sister will smile upon me again. When I find my answer, I will smile and she will smile back. That is the most important thing anyway, for my sister to find peace and smile.

End.

I like writing about Enishi, actually. I somehow think that there are some parallels between him and Sanosuke at one point, since both of them prefer violence over talking and both of them went through a childhood where the people they looked up to were murdered. It's just that Sanosuke decided to let it all out and Enishi decided to bottle it in and let it explode. And that's the difference.

Thank you for reading.


End file.
